Wooden Canon

[katana]

Originally Posted by Ed

Wow. Talk about a rarity.

Amazing that it survived.

Hi,
Perhaps this was a fake cannon ...to fool the enemy into believing you had more armaments . I believe that this tactic was used during the American Civil War and were call Quaker guns.

Rgards David

[celtan]

The Conquistadores used wooden canons, reinforced with iron belts...

[katana]

Originally Posted by celtan

The Conquistadores used wooden canons, reinforced with iron belts...

Hi Celtan ,
yes ..and others, however there seems to be no iron re-inforcing on the wooden cannon posted by Clockwork. There does seem to be a rope wrapped 're-enforcement' ...but it seems to be originally coated with something like clay or resin. So it is possible the rope was used to give the cannon shape and was not a strenghening 'aid'.

On 'Mythbusters' an American 'Discovery Channel' production, they constructed a cannon from a 'bored' tree trunk which had steel banding re-inforcement.. which actualy worked well. They eventually greatly overloaded it with an 'exaggerated' charge of gunpowder and blocked the barrel. Needless to say it exploded violently

Kind Regards David

[fernando]

Trying to focus on the muzzle; not all layers are in wood. First you have a 'shirt' in the bore and next to it, could be a (nother) metalic section ?
I wouldn't know about wooden cannons, but leather ones actually existed; i hace pictures somewhere around.
Still David's aproach is quite a pertinent one .

Fernando

[Rick]

Originally Posted by fernando

Trying to focus on the muzzle; not all layers are in wood. First you have a 'shirt' in the bore and next to it, could be a (nother) metalic section ?
I wouldn't know about wooden cannons, but leather ones actually existed; i hace pictures somewhere around.
Still David's aproach is quite a pertinent one .

Fernando

Here :
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...leather+cannon

[fernando]

Good ... and quick
Thanks Rick.
Fernando

[katana]

Hi Fernando,
I had noticed the metal 'liner' within the bore of the cannon ...but it appears (to me) to be 'flanged' at the muzzle end (ie the metal liner originally extended beyond the wooden muzzel and then was hammered / worked so as to fold back and flattened against the wood of the barrel.

It would not be unreasonable to believe that the cannon may not have been used to fire a projectile ...but to fire an 'empty' charge ...to give the impression that it was fully functional. The use of 'decoys' during battles is a very old tactic. If indeed it did fire projectiles, they must have been relatively 'light' (perhaps grape shot).....this would require less gunpowder...and would exert less stress to the wooden barrel.

Leather cannons ?!!? you must post those pictures...

Kind Regards David

Cross posted and just seen the recent updates .....thanks Rick, so leather cannons do exist ...and I thought Fernando had been on the 'vinho' ...

[fernando]

Hi David,

Originally Posted by katana

...Leather cannons ?!!? you must post those pictures...

Rick has already posted above, a fine link on those; but i'll try and find 'my' examples ... if i find them.

Lots of health
Fernando

[katana]

Originally Posted by fernando

Hi David,



Rick has already posted above, a fine link on those; but i'll try and find 'my' examples ... if i find them.

Lots of health
Fernando

Yes please Fernando.

Regards

[fernando]

Say, Tony,
What is written in the museum legend about this cannon ?
I assume there was a tag with a legend on it, right ?
Fernando

[fernando]

Originally Posted by katana

... Cross posted and just seen the recent updates .....thanks Rick, so leather cannons do exist ...and I thought Fernando had been on the 'vinho' ...

Too late David,
I already punished you with 'my' examples .
But you've made my day, though. This is the first time i see an English speaker spelling the word 'vinho' ... in strictly correct Portuguese .

Best
Fernando

[fernando]

Your'e luckier than me, David .
If you noticed the small lettering in those leather cannon legends, the one below is in the Woolwich Artillery Museum. Don't forget to take a look at it, when you next flee from Kent and come to the city .
It also says in the legend that the center tube, equally made of leather, is circled with hemp cord, before being hemmed with leather.
This cord thing reminds me the cord wraped around the wooden canon in Malta ... meaning nothing but just that .
Fernando

[katana]

Originally Posted by fernando

.
But you've made my day, though. This is the first time i see an English speaker spelling the word 'vinho' ... in strictly correct Portuguese .

Best
Fernando

Ah Fernando ....its almost a duty for an Englishman to know how to order a drink in any foreign land ........Cheers

Thank you for posting the pictures, the silk wrapped Chinese cannon is very interesting. The barrel looks metallic ...but has a thin walled barrel. Obviously the 'silk' wrapping adds strength to the barrel...and would assume this made it much lighter, making it easier to carry. A travelling army could 'carry' a larger number of such cannons than the 'normal' metal barrelled type .....more 'fire power' for the 'same' weight.

The tensile strength of silk is quite high (500 MPa) in comparison brass is 200+ MPa , copper is 70 MPa, cast iron is 130 MPa, Steel, high strength alloy is 690 MPa and Steel (AISI 1060 0.6% carbon) Piano wire is 2200-2482 MPa

I would assume that the leather and rope cannons were formed using the materials 'wet', as both materials would 'shrink and tighten' significantly once fully dry. This would mean the rope 'binding' would be extremely tight and pre-stressed....making the structure quite rigid and limiting any flexibility.

Regards David